Optical communications have become more prevalent as the demand for high-speed communication and processing has increased. Optical communications typically implement a laser for providing an optical signal. As an example, a laser array can provide a plurality of individual optical signals onto a common optical bus, each having a separate channel, to provide optical data on the optical bus. One example of a laser is a ring laser that is configured to generate an optical signal that propagates therein in response to a lasing signal (e.g., an electrical or optical lasing signal). As an example, for a given lasing stimulation (e.g., injection current), light in a ring laser cavity can travel unidirectionally, either in a clockwise direction or a counter-clockwise direction, which cannot typically be predicted and can be opposite a desired direction, and which can change at different amplitudes of lasing stimulation. As another example, light can sometimes travel bidirectionally (i.e., in both directions simultaneously) in response to a given lasing stimulation. In many applications (e.g., optical communication systems), it may be necessary to provide unidirectional lasing to a desired direction.